Zhou Hui stood in the first-floor lobby of the unit, expressionless and dripping wet, covered in unidentifiable digested matter and disgusting yellow slime.
A ten-meter radius around him was completely empty. On the surrounding second-floor walkway, a dense crowd, three layers deep, craned their necks to look down, their gazes filled with a mixture of curiosity, excitement, and immense joy.
“…” Zhou Hui roared, “What the f— are you looking at! Keep looking and I’ll dock all your pay! Get back to work!”
With a thunderous rumble, the crowd scattered like birds and beasts, their gossiping chatter merging into a joyous ocean of sound.
Li Hu came flying down from the second floor, her arms wide open in boundless enthusiasm, her human weapons surging like waves in the wind. “Ahhhh—”
Zhou Hui swiftly dodged. Li Hu accurately brushed past him and latched onto Jia Louluo, who was just walking through the main entrance. “Gre—at Roc— hand—some—bo—y—!”
Jia Louluo was hit head-on by the human cannonball and staggered, nearly tumbling back out the door. His chest was then violently squeezed by the human weapons, almost causing him to spit his intestines out on the spot.
However, Li Hu didn’t care. She pulled Jia Louluo around, examining him and clucking her tongue, her eyes shining with intoxicated delight. “Handsome! It’s been so many years, handsome! When did you leave Tibet? Tsk tsk tsk, look at this physique, these muscles. The snowy plateaus really build a person up…”
Jia Louluo, carrying a bag half his height and with a three-thousand-year-old nine-tailed fox hanging off his arm, struggled forward one step at a time.
If only Zhou Hui were present, he would have looked like a shabbily dressed migrant worker coming to the city to petition an unscrupulous contractor for unpaid wages. But with the enthusiastic nine-tailed fox spirit by his side cooing, “Handsome, your waist is well-toned, the thrusting power must be strong,” and “Handsome, your biceps are nice, your stamina must be very long-lasting,” and “Handsome, your flexibility is great too, you must be able to do any position…” the scene instantly transformed into the tragic story of a handsome, rustic country boy coming to the capital to work, only to be spotted by a lonely, thirsty rich woman and unfortunately tricked of his heart and body, becoming a gigolo.
Jia Louluo forged ahead under the countless strange stares of passersby, finally reaching the fourth basement level. At the end of the corridor was Zhou Hui’s office. Zhou Hui was about to go mad from the vomit all over him. He only had time to throw out a “Don’t touch my stuff!” before rushing straight into the bathroom. A moment later, the sound of rushing water could be heard.
Jia Louluo stood at the office door, looking up at the thousand red threads suspended from the ceiling. He asked doubtfully, “Isn’t this a Qiankun Array?”
“It is.” Li Hu walked into the office with ease, casually grabbed a Phoenix-themed throw pillow from the sofa, and twisted her waist to lean against the armrest. “Your dad has now been reduced to a little white-collar worker earning a meager living by working for humans. Honestly, when I saw his pay slip from last quarter, it was truly pathetic. What are you here for? To ask your dad for living expenses? Don’t bother, he has no money.”
Jia Louluo: “No, I…”
Li Hu said, “Come, call me ‘Gege’. Call me Gege and I’ll give you pocket money.”
Jia Louluo: “…”
Jia Louluo put a hand to his forehead, walked to the sofa, and sat down on the other end, far from Li Hu.
“Don’t be so distant,” Li Hu immediately crawled over, full of charm, and chided, “Why are you so cold to me now? When you were little, there was nothing I hadn’t seen. When your brother was being beaten by your dad and your mom was trying to intervene, I was the one who played with you. Feeding you, putting you to sleep, changing your diapers… flicking your little pecker when you were naked, pink dresses and lace bows…”
Jia Louluo said expressionlessly, “That never happened.”
“It did, it did. It’s a pity that under your mother’s tyrannical influence, I didn’t dare to draw a picture of you jumping around naked on the surface of Dongting Lake.” Li Hu actually looked quite nostalgic. “Those were such loving times. Honestly, in your family, it’s just that the older one is too much of a troublemaker, which makes the younger one seem well-behaved. In a normal family, you’d be a pre-delinquent too…”
Jia Louluo’s first subconscious thought was of Maha running around Hell with his junk out. In the next second, he forced himself to erase that demonic image from his mind.
It’s common for children not to like wearing clothes, he thought. At least after I turned a hundred, I never let anyone see me naked again.
·
Zhou Hui finally finished showering and came out in a fresh shirt before Li Hu could completely strip Jia Louluo. He dried his wet hair while looking down at his son.
Jia Louluo sat on the sofa and looked back indifferently, elbows on his knees, fingers interlaced, revealing strong-boned fingers from his half-gloves.
—There was actually some of Phoenix’s indifference in his demeanor, an aloofness brought about by the powerful divinity that permeated his very bones. But Phoenix had cultivated a gentle exterior over tens of thousands of years. At Jia Louluo’s age, it manifested more as a silent rebelliousness.
Zhou Hui narrowed his eyes, seeming a little displeased. After a moment, he tossed over some clothes. “Go take a shower and change.”
“…For what?”
“To take you to a meeting.”
Jia Louluo grabbed the clothes and went into the bathroom. The sound of rushing water started and stopped, and three minutes later, he opened the door and walked out.
Zhou Hui’s clothes fit his son perfectly. A white cotton short-sleeved T-shirt and well-tailored designer jeans accentuated the young man’s lean figure and handsome face. He no longer looked like a migrant worker or a Tibetan artifact smuggler. If he walked on a university campus looking like this, he would probably attract many hot gazes from the female students.
Zhou Hui’s eyes lingered on his son’s short hair, which stood up naturally without any hair gel, looking very stylish. There was a hint of confusion deep in his gaze, clearly wondering where this gene came from.
“Wait, don’t wrap it yet! Let me take a picture first!” Li Hu jumped up from the sofa with her phone and, with a flurry of clicks, took a 360-degree photo shoot of Jia Louluo. She quickly opened WeChat and started posting to her Moments. “Okay, you can wrap it now.”
“…” Jia Louluo wrapped his face in circles with bandages. “What is that?”
Zhou Hui said, “A cult that wastes time and life. Are you still so afraid of sunlight?”
“I’m allergic in the human realm. Why is it always foggy on the streets of Beijing?”
Zhou Hui walked out of the office and headed for the meeting hall upstairs in the Unit 547 building, followed by his mummy-faced son and his sister-in-law, who was engrossed in her phone. As he passed a window, he glanced at the gray, hazy sky, rubbed his chin, and said, “Hmm… it’s actually immortal qi.”
·
“You don’t recognize him, do you—you foolish humans, hahaha! Well, it’s no wonder you don’t. This child’s life story is tragic and full of twists. He’s Lao Zhou’s illegitimate son, abandoned in his rural hometown back in the day!!!”
Li Hu’s voice, full of excitement, broadcasted through the WeChat group:
“You all know that Lao Zhou was a ‘phoenix man’ who married up to a true phoenix, a poor loser who married a rich, beautiful girl and turned his life around, right? A phoenix man faces immense psychological pressure with a rich, powerful, talented, and beautiful wife. Then, once he got a taste of success, he became heartless and secretly found a mistress. Who knew that a moment of carelessness would lead to a secret pregnancy, and ten months later, this bastard son was born!!!”
Zhou Hui: “…”
Li Hu’s unrestrained laughter echoed throughout the entire Unit 547 building:
“Phoenix No. 4, in a fit of rage, ran off to Hell to find her old flame, the Demon Lord, who still had feelings for her, and then decisively sent Lao Zhou divorce papers! Their older son, Da Mao, got his psychological trauma from their messy divorce! Lao Zhou committed bigamy and produced an illegitimate son. Feeling deeply ashamed before the Party and the people, and to keep his government job, he could only abandon the child in his rural hometown, leaving him to be neglected for eighteen years, eighteen years! Now, the mistress who waited foolishly for eighteen years without ever getting official status is finally dying! Her last words were for this illegitimate son to go to the capital to find his father, just to ask Lao Zhou! Do you still remember Xia Xiaofang from the village creek back then?!”
The WeChat group’s audio played from the phone. Yan Lanyu’s confused voice asked, “I… I didn’t watch TV when I was young in Japan, but why does this plot sound a bit familiar?”
“Ask the world what love is, that it makes all stories under heaven plagiarize each other. The stories of cheating men and their mistresses are always similar, my little beauty!” Li Hu said emotionally. “Now that illegitimate son has traveled all the way from the impoverished mountains to the capital to find his father, traveling thousands of miles, eating in the wind and sleeping in the open, he almost starved to death on the way! He finally saved up a few yuan by collecting scraps to buy cold water and steamed buns, only to be pickpocketed at the station! He was almost arrested as a terrorist for begging on the roadside! Hahahahahaha, so tragic!”
Zhou Hui: “…”
Shenwan Tiansi’s indignant voice came out: “How could he do this! He wronged his original wife, wronged his child, and deliberately abused his illegitimate son! No matter what, you can’t let him starve to death, can you?!”
Situ Yingzhi said, “Aiya, Li, you don’t understand. It’s always very difficult for illegitimate children to be acknowledged by their fathers. That’s why men must control their lower bodies. In our jiangshi world, we never do cheating, mistresses, or keeping a second wife. It would be very, very tragic-yo…”
“True love! True love, listen to me, I won’t keep a second wife either!” Shenwan Tiansi immediately professed his love for Yan Lanyu loudly. “Although I have a whole platoon of harems in the 2D world, you are my one and only true love in this 3D life!”
“…” Yan Lanyu said tactfully, “I’m still young and want to focus on my studies. I don’t want to be in a relationship so early…”
Yu Jingzhong’s cold voice sounded in the group: “Comrade Shenwan, mind your influence. You are a monk. Being allowed to eat potato chips and drink coke is already good enough. What is a harem?!”
Li Hu was absolutely delighted. She stood at the meeting room door and pushed it open.
Around the long oval table, Yu Jingzhong stood directly in front of Yan Lanyu, holding up a Naruto manga book high in the air. Shenwan Tiansi was jumping on his toes, trying with all his might to reach it. Situ Yingzhi was recording the little Living Buddha with his phone, looking like he was about to upload it to YouTube. Wu Bei, with a bandage on his head, a cool guy from the Northeast standing at 1.88 meters tall in a black leather-trimmed Burberry trench coat, was engrossed in his phone, scrolling through Douban.
Zhou Hui said, “Ahem—!”
Everyone stopped and looked over in unison.
Zhou Hui walked steadily into the meeting room under everyone’s gaze and stood at one end of the oval table.
“I’ve called everyone to a meeting today mainly to propose a second encirclement of the Four Evil Paths.”
He pointed at Jia Louluo and said coldly, “This is my and Phoenix’s younger son, the Golden-Winged Great Roc, Jia Louluo. He has brought some news about the Four Evil Paths preparing to release death qi in the human realm to refine a large number of living corpses. We need to respond quickly within these three days. If you have any questions, you can ask him.”
Everyone’s gaze shifted to Jia Louluo’s face, filled with undisguised suspicion and curiosity.
Jia Louluo froze in place, facing the crowd. After a moment, in the dead silence, he said firmly, “I really am Phoenix’s son.”
·
This was Zhou Hui’s second proposal regarding the encirclement of the Four Evil Paths. The difference was that the previous one was an offensive attack aimed at sealing the Demon Lord, while this one was a defensive battle against the invasion of death qi.
The sea of death qi released by Trailokyavijaya and Snow Mountain Goddess in Beijing had once caused a huge disturbance and even considerable panic among the higher-ups. Therefore, the moment the words “death qi” were mentioned this time, orders were immediately given from above to guard strictly. During the meeting, Yu Jingzhong even received a personal call from a certain leader in Zhongnanhai.
Zhou Hui did not let Jia Louluo participate in the entire meeting. He only had him introduce the Demon Lord’s movements and the information provided by Phoenix before telling him to go outside and wait.
But as Jia Louluo sat outside the meeting room, he could still hear Zhou Hui’s voice from inside.
Before, although he had never said it, he had always felt that his father was a bit eccentric, that there was a screw loose somewhere in his head. It wasn’t until today, as he listened calmly, that he discovered Zhou Hui wasn’t as foolish as the legends made him out to be.
He spoke with clear logic and a well-organized thought process. His analysis of the problem was also very comprehensive, even giving the impression that he had been planning this for a long time, just waiting for the right opportunity to arrange everything according to his own plans.
From this, it was clear that his father’s true character was actually very reliable—after all, he was a man who had started as a humble hell demon from the Sea of Blood, yet had almost dominated the Four Evil Paths and ultimately came to represent the Heavenly Dao, standing as an equal against the Great Asura King.
·
Jia Louluo waited outside until the meeting ended. Zhou Hui came out and looked down at his son, who was sitting on the steps, from the corner of his eye.
“Where are you staying tonight?”
“…I don’t know.”
The father and son faced off for a moment. Zhou Hui said expressionlessly, “The property deed is in my and your mother’s names, so theoretically, I should charge you rent for taking you in…”
Jia Louluo asked, “Did you really keep a mistress and have an illegitimate son?”
“No!”
“Then do you lean towards giving the inheritance to Maha or to me?”
Zhou Hui: “…”
“Since you’re going to give it to me sooner or later, why charge me for staying one night in advance?” Jia Louluo stood up with his old backpack and stomped the dust off his feet.
Zhou Hui stared at his son, stunned. The latter looked back with a calm and composed gaze.
For a long moment, Lao Zhou couldn’t find any words to refute him, feeling an unpleasant sense of having been persuaded.
·
So Zhou Hui took his younger son home. That evening, the father and son ate takeout at the same dining table, both feeling a sense of absurdity.
This was probably the first time in a thousand years they had eaten at the same table with just the two of them. Jia Louluo had missed the good old days when Zhou Hui fed his older son vodka mixed with chili sauce. After he was born, Phoenix strictly controlled the babies’ diet, often personally cooking Manchu-Han Imperial Feast baby meals and feeding the two little bird chicks spoonful by spoonful with patience and love.
After Maha went to the Thirty-Three Heavens to cultivate Buddhism, Jia Louluo always ate with Phoenix. For a long time, he had been somewhat afraid of his father—this man who was said to be very powerful, cruel, and born of a hell demon from the Sea of Blood; this father who never showed his children any affection and seemed to harbor a faint vigilance and wariness.
The duplex luxury apartment was brightly lit. The dining table was solid mahogany, and the floor was polished to a mirror shine. Although the two of them made sounds of chopsticks clinking and spoons touching bowls while eating, the slight noises only accentuated the silence and awkwardness, making even their breathing seem particularly noticeable.
“…Where do you plan to intercept the Demon Lord in three days?” Jia Louluo finally asked.
Fortunately, Zhou Hui did not ignore him, only saying flatly, “The location is still being investigated.”
“If Mother really kills the Demon Lord and wants to give the Great Asura King’s divinity to Maha, will you…”
“That’s Phoenix’s business.”
“You won’t stop it?”
“Would stopping it be useful?”
After retorting, Zhou Hui didn’t wait for an answer. He stood up with his empty bowl and went to the kitchen sink. At that moment, Jia Louluo suddenly spoke from behind him, asking, “The encirclement plan you mentioned in the meeting today was very complete. It seemed to have been planned in advance. Did Mother tell you something before I came?”
He asked this purely because he knew Zhou Hui’s sealing of the Demon Lord was only to appease the Heavenly Dao, and he wasn’t really serious about it. Yet today in the meeting, his plan to completely kill the Demon Lord Fan Luo and eliminate the problem for good was very mature, suggesting he had been thinking about it for a long time.
Was it because of the grudge of having his wife stolen by the Demon Lord?
Jia Louluo vaguely hoped that Zhou Hui would give such an answer. He hoped Zhou Hui would show that he cared more about Phoenix. It seemed that if he did, the possibility of Zhou Hui not breaking up with Phoenix after he returned would be greater, and the formal integrity of this family could be maintained a little longer.
However, Zhou Hui said nothing. When Jia Louluo mentioned Phoenix, there wasn’t even a ripple of emotion.
“I paid for the meal, you wash the dishes.” He tossed his empty bowl and chopsticks into the sink. “After you’re done, get a blanket and sleep on the sofa.”
·
Of course, Jia Louluo did not sleep on the sofa. There were four large bedrooms in the duplex apartment. He slept in the one next to Zhou Hui’s.
He was actually no longer used to sleeping on a soft bed with a pillow. During his several hundred years in the snowy mountains, he had slept in caves, under cliffs, sometimes just in a sheltered spot behind a large rock. When the blizzards were too fierce, he would transform into a Golden-Winged Great Roc, burying his head in his thick wings, feeling little of the icy cold.
Jia Louluo tossed and turned on the Simmons mattress. In the middle of the night, he finally woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep. He lay quietly in the darkness for a while, thinking about his mother and brother who were currently in the demon realm. After a while, he lazily got up, put on his slippers, and went to the bathroom to relieve himself.
However, as soon as he walked out, he saw that the door to Zhou Hui’s bedroom opposite was not closed. It was ajar, revealing a warm, orange light.
Zhou Hui was turned sideways to him, sitting in an armchair, seemingly examining something closely.
Jia Louluo quietly walked to the door and narrowed his eyes. A raptor’s keen vision allowed him to see clearly that his father was holding a phone. On the screen was a selfie—Zhou Hui was sleeping soundly in bed, with Phoenix snuggled in his arms, holding up the camera with one hand and expressionlessly making a peace sign with the other.
Jia Louluo was stunned.
“Where are you going?” Zhou Hui suddenly covered the photo and asked aloud.
“To… to the bathroom.” Jia Louluo strode into the bathroom, closed the door, and leaned against it, letting out a soft sigh of relief.
